Fourier Transform (FT) NMR instruments
The magnitude of the energy changes involved in NMR spectroscopy are very small. This means that, sensitivity can be a limitation when looking at very low concentrations. One way to increase sensitivity would be to record many spectra, and then add them together. As noise is random, it adds as the square root of the number of spectra recorded. For example, if one hundred spectra of a compound were recorded and summed, then the noise would increase by a factor of ten, but the signal would increase in magnitude by a factor of one hundred - giving a large increase in sensitivity. However, if this is done using a continuous wave instrument, the time needed to collect the spectra is very large
(one scan takes two to eight minutes).
In FT-NMR, all frequencies in a spectral width are irradiated simultaneously with a radio frequency pulse. A single oscillator (transmitter) is used to generate a pulse of electromagnetic radiation of frequency ωο but with the pulse truncated after only a limited number of cycles (corresponding to a pulse duration τ), this pulse has simultaneous rectangular and sinusoidal characteristics. It can be proven that the frequencies contained within this pulse are within the range +/- 1/τ of the main transmitter frequency ωο. For example a 5 μs pulse would generate a range of frequencies of ωο ± 1/0.000005 Hz (i.e. ωο ± 200,000 Hz). Following the pulse, the nuclei magnetic moments find themselves in a non-quilibium condition having precesed away from their alignment with they applied magnetic field. They begin a process called “relaxation”, by which they return to thermal equilibrium. A time domain emission signal (called a free induction decay (FID)) is recorded by the instrument as the nuclei magnetic moments relax back to equilibrium with the applied magnetic field. A frequency domain spectrum that we are familiar with is then obtained
by Fourier transformation of the FID.